U14s - Barnsley Vs Chesterfield

Barnsley 17 v Chesterfield 5

Barnsley U14’s welcomed North Midlands rivals Chesterfield as the visitors to Shaw Lane this weekend. Despite a number of key players having to sit out the game due to injuries sustained at Castleford in midweek, Barnsley were still able to field a full team.

Although at first glance, the Chesterfield side looked more than capable of providing a big physical challenge to the Barnsley boys; it was the visitors who were in shock & awe and quickly on the back foot from the start as Barnsley laid out their intention to play the game at a high intensity.

Keeping the ball tight and close the forwards put on an excellent display of unit play as they pressurised Chesterfield and pinned them in their own half. There were some excellent examples of forceful running from Jacob Bailey and Luke Townsend. Barnsley’s dominance continued in the scrum where Ben Thistlewood outplayed his much larger rival and it must have been a long time since scrum half Jack Yeardley enjoyed such an armchair ride at the back of the pack. On the rare occasions when Chesterfield did manage to stem the Barnsley tide they didn’t plan on having the ball ripped from their possession by Sam Atkinson or being turned around by the assured kicking of Jacob Lawton.

Before long the inevitable happened and Chesterfield’s defences were breeched allowing Kyle Holmes to go over for his first try of the morning. From the restart, cool heads were required in order to not let Chesterfield back in to the game and showing their composure it wasn’t long before the forwards provided another opportunity for Kyle Holmes to go over for his second try. This time he took the long way round to go under the posts to give team mate Jordan Gray an easier conversion, with which he duly obliged.

Not to be outdone by their larger team mates, the Barnsley backs were also looking more assured in contact throughout the game and the performances of Josh Smith, Jack Smith and Joe Marsden more than matched the threat posed by their opponents.

One worrying aspect of Barnsley’s play was the lineout. The normally accurate throwing of Fred Butcher and the salmon like jumping of Jordan Darwin failed to connect with any consistency, but fortunately this didn’t detract from Barnsley’s dominance of the game as the hosts went in at half time with a 12 v 0 lead.

The second half saw the introduction of Aaron Westmoreland and Sean Powell to Barnsley’s line-up as the young Griffins picked up where they left off.

Sensing that the victory was there for the taking Barnsley began to play a slightly more expansive game and although Michael Limb saw plenty of the ball, he was unable to ignite his afterburners in the usual manner and break free from the shackles of the Chesterfield defence.

The visitors were by now beginning to gain more possession of the ball; and although rarely did they look like troubling the scorers their mauling was proving to be an effective tool until Barnsley’s forwards seized the initiative and began to stop their opponent’s drives before they gained too much momentum.

Adam Fretwell gave his team mates a fright in his first game at full back when he kicked for safety in the direction of his own goal posts, but through a mix of quick thinking and team support he was able to rectify the situation. Further substitutions saw the introduction of Dylan Taylor to the forwards and he quickly took the opportunity to put his counterparts to the sword.

A momentary lapse of concentration allowed Chesterfield to break through and score in the corner to make the scoreline 12 v 5. But Barnsley didn’t panic and from the restart Jordan Darwin took the high ball and set off up field. Several phases of play later and Kyle Holmes went over for his third try of the morning and a final scoreline of 17 v 5 in favour of the hosts.

In a great team performance there were no shortage of candidates for man of the match, particularly in the forwards. But after much deliberation the nominations went to Kyle Holmes (Forwards) and Jacob Lawton (Backs).